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Hermon Bumpus and House Sparrows

" ... on February 1 of the present year (1898), when, after an uncommonly severe storm of snow, rain, and sleet, a number of English sparrows [= House Sparrows, Passer domesticus] were brought to the Anatomical Laboratory of Brown University [, Providence, Rhode Island]. Seventy-two of these birds revived; sixty-four perished; ... " (p. 209). "... the storm was of long duration, and the birds were picked up, not in one locality, but in several localities; ... " (p. 212). This event was described by Hermon Bumpus (1898) had has served as a classic example of natural selection in action. Bumpus' paper is of special interest since he included the measurements of these 136 birds in his paper. These data have been reanalyzed several times (Grant 1972, O'Donald 1973, Johnston et al. 1972).